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Charred Walls of the Damned
Charred Walls of the Damned are an American heavy metal supergroup formed in 2009 consisting of drummer Richard Christy, bassist Steve DiGiorgio, vocalist Tim "Ripper" Owens and guitarist Jason Suecof. The band was formed by Christy after a five-year absence from the metal scene since leaving Iced Earth and joining The Howard Stern Show in 2004. Their self-titled debut album was released on February 2, 2010. History Formation While Iced Earth were on their 2004 Glorious Burden tour, drummer Richard Christy decided to depart from the band, thus postponing upcoming dates in Japan. He became a finalist in "Get John's Job", a listener contest on The Howard Stern Show to replace "Stuttering John" Melendez, who left to become the announcer for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Having not participated would have made him "regret it every day of his life". On July 1, 2004, Christy won the contest with 30% of the listener vote. With his busy work schedule in New York City, Christy kept in touch with his musical roots. He built confidence in his guitar playing and song writing, putting together an entire demo album of material. He returned from a five-and-a-half year absence from music, announcing his new band, Charred Walls of the Damned. The origin of its name was explained on May 20, 2009. It derives from a series of radio prank calls he and Sal Governale made to a Tradio show on a Christian radio station. In response to the pranks they received, the host described how he prays for them, thus "saving their soul to be saved by God's grace...not in the devil's hell where you'd be putting your nails in the charred walls of the damned". Debut album and break-up (2009–2011) The band's first single, "Ghost Town", was released on December 1, 2009. Their debut album, Charred Walls of the Damned, was released on compact disc and iTunes on February 2, 2010. Blabbermouth.net reported around 2,200 copies were sold in the United States in its first week of release. The Japanese version of the album includes a cover version of "Nice Dreams" by Minneapolis metal group Powermad. The album entered Billboard's "Heatseekers", "Independent Albums" and "Hard Music Albums" charts at No. 6, 37 and 46 respectively. It also reached No. 85 on the Canadian "Independent Chart". On January 5, 2011, Christy reported the album sold 20,000 copies worldwide. Overall, the album was well-received by critics. English on-line music magazine Rocksnail, with its award of 3.5 out of 5, noted the band's potential if they convey such material live. Dom Lawson of Bravewords praised the album with an 8.5 out of 10, hailing it as "a platinum-plated triumph" which "absolutely lives up to every expectation on a musical level." He pointed out the pairing of Christy and DiGiorgio as a "particularly inspired touch", particularly on "Blood on Wood". Chris Akin from Pitriff, who awarded the album 8 out of 10, identified a "distinct chemistry" between the four musicians, with the album delivering "terrific, old school sounding metal". Though he believed the album achieved its "pure, out-and-out metal" aim, Andy Lye from Jukebox:Metal argued it "sounds somewhat disjointed ... like parts of it were recorded very separately and only partially successfully spliced together afterwards." Lye believed at thirty-five minutes the album was "far too short", believing it "could and should have been so much better given the talent involved." In January 2011, Charred Walls of the Damned break-up. Band members * Richard Christy – drums * Steve DiGiorgio – bass guitar * Tim "Ripper" Owens – lead vocals * Jason Suecof – guitar Discography ;Studio albums * Charred Walls of the Damned (2010) ;Singles * "Ghost Town" (2009) Videography * Ghost Town (2010) References External links * Charred Walls of the Damned on MySpace * Richard Christy Official Site Category:American heavy metal musical groups Category:American thrash metal musical groups Category:Heavy metal musical groups Category:Thrash metal musical groups Category:Bands